Labor Day used to be considered the traditional start of the fall campaign season, marking the unofficial end of summer as candidates took to parade routes to kick off their bid for office in earnest.

But that artificial launch deadline has become an anachronism, particularly in Illinois, which for so long had been insulated from the full-time campaigns of Washington. As with most things in state politics these days, this can be chalked up to the costly, bitter feud between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Take Michael McAuliffe, a 20-year state representative. Anyone who has watched broadcast television this summer, from the Olympics to the Cubs to game shows, has seen a McAuliffe ad featuring his wife, Kim, touting his re-election bid in the Northwest Side and northwest suburban district.

Since Aug. 1, the candidate's 30-second ads have run at least 478 times — at a cost of at least $614,475, according to TV station records filed with the Federal Communications Commission.

It's not unusual for candidates to air early commercials over the summer. Typically, though, it's a contender for statewide office that's doing so. Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk and Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth have actually been airing general election TV ads since May.

But it is highly unusual for someone running for the Illinois House to buy August broadcast time in the expensive Chicago TV market. Not only are campaign funds usually too scarce for such a move, but it's not viewed as good bang for the buck because only a tiny fraction of the people who see the ads will actually be able to vote on the race. After all, there are 118 Illinois House seats and 40 Senate seats on the Nov. 8 ballot.

A lack of campaign cash hasn't been an issue for Republicans this year. The GOP has been able to mount an early push not seen in recent decades, one that includes hundreds of thousands of dollars for cable TV ad buys and dozens of fliers sent to voters' mailboxes that began in June. And it's primarily due to Rauner's deep pockets.

Late last month, Rauner told reporters: "I'm really not focused heavily on any kind of electioneering right now."

His money, however, decidedly has not been where his mouth is.

Of the $16.4 million the Illinois Republican Party has raised this year, $16 million is from Citizens for Rauner, the campaign fund of the wealthy former private equity specialist from Winnetka. He also has given another $4.5 million this year to allied super political action committees working on state legislative races.

"I mean both in terms of the media that we're able to get, (and) the mail, but the other place that we've been able to be effective where we haven't been as effective as Democrats before is in the ground game," Radogno said.

"With the resources we have available, we've been able to get up early and have people out there knocking on doors since June. So that's another big difference and that can make the difference in a close race, one you can lose by 200 or 300 votes," she said.

In prior campaigns, it was left to Republican leaders like Radogno to raise money for the Republican State Senate Campaign Committee and House GOP Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs to do the same for the House Republican Organization.

But Rauner has used the Illinois Republican Party as a vehicle to send out millions of dollars to the state Senate and House campaign operations, which in turn have shown up in the form of TV ads and campaign mailers.

The money has proven to be at least a financial counter to the assistance veteran Democratic House Speaker Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton have long received from allies in organized labor and among liability attorneys.

The Democratic supermajorities have blocked Rauner from achieving what he calls his "turnaround agenda," which includes items like limiting payouts for workers hurt on the job and changes to what's covered under collective bargaining. While Rauner wants to reduce Democratic legislative power, Democrats are hoping to pick up seats in order to ensure a true veto-proof majority. It is something Rauner has conceded may happen.

At stake is Illinois' future. A stopgap budget, a timeout reached between the governor and lawmakers, runs out after the election. The results could determine whether Illinois will undergo another prolonged stalemate that could last through the governor's first term, as well as the fate of higher taxes and spending cuts that would be needed to provide Illinois with a workable if not balanced budget.

Radogno said she believed Rauner's almost single-handed funding of Republican campaigns was justified "because we so desperately need more balance in this state and if we get that, it will build on itself."

"I think this is sort of an even-up election," she said.

Democrats acknowledge the early and heavy spending spawned by Rauner has forced them into responding sooner with their own ads and mailers. They also admit that on a dollar-for-dollar basis, they can't match the influx of money Rauner is able to pour into House and Senate races.

"The money is surprising. It's unprecedented in the amount that's going to be spent," said Steve Brown, the longtime spokesman for Madigan and the state Democratic Party, which Madigan also chairs.

Still, the multiple political funds controlled by Madigan and Cullerton totaled more than $14.5 million, based on the cash they had on July 1 plus what they've raised since. Of that total, Madigan, the Southwest Side Democrat, controls more than $8.5 million while Cullerton, the Northwest Side Democrat, has nearly $6 million.

Brown attributed the heavy spending by Rauner to woes the GOP has at the top of the ticket with presidential nominee Donald Trump. It's "a terrible ticket and a very unpersuasive message" that will have effects on down-ballot races, including contests for the legislature, Brown contended.

But much of the Republican focus in challenging targeted Democratic legislators is attempting to link them to the powerful Madigan, who has been speaker for 31 of the past 33 years.

The messaging is particularly hard-hitting Downstate, where Democratic lawmakers are facing a double-edged attack of being tied to Madigan and the "Chicago Democratic machine." It is also in those Downstate areas where Trump could help GOP legislative candidates.

Radogno said the challenge for Republicans opposed to Trump is to convince them of the need to come out to vote for down-ballot GOP candidates. "If they want change, which I think people are talking about, we need more balance in the legislature," she said.

But Democrats are working to link Republican candidates across the ballot with Trump and Rauner, despite the Illinois GOP's efforts to largely separate local candidates from the presidential contender and governor in areas where that wouldn't be helpful.

Take the McAuliffe race, where he's being challenged by Merry Marwig, an anti-airport noise activist and Democratic political newcomer backed by the politically active Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois. A union mailer showed McAuliffe and Rauner in pictures and questioned if they had the same priorities.

In the past, McAuliffe has enjoyed strong union support running in a legislative district with a large constituency of police and firefighters. Rauner, however, has proposed union-weakening collective bargaining changes as part of his economic agenda.

That may explain why in McAuliffe's TV ad, his wife calls her husband someone who "stands up to the leaders of both parties," a "fighter for our first responders" and a "truly independent voice for us."

It also may explain one thing the ad doesn't note: McAuliffe is a Republican.